We recently finished celebrating African-Americans during Black History Month in February, an altogether worthy recognition of the contributions of Black people in this country. A decidedly insufficient honor given their 300 years of suffering under white oppression, We are, it would seem by the reactions of some to our current president, far from achieving anything resembling complete acceptance of people of color in our society.
But, as opposed as I am to any form of discrimination, and being totally supportive of Black History Month as a way to educate all of us, I couldn’t help but think about a few other nationalities who have suffered under the yoke of the white, European bigotry based on color, speech, religion, or economic status that has defined entirely too much of our history.
We did finally declare a Native American Heritage Month, thanks to George H. W. Bush in 1990. Seems a pittance considering what was done to the indigenous peoples of this continent. Bill Clinton made that official in 1996, declaring November to be Native American Heritage Month. My guess is their thinking revolved around Thanksgiving.
This probably comes as a surprise to most folks; it did to me as I researched this piece. If any of the major networks, commercial or cable have mentioned Native American Heritage Month, it has escaped my notice.
We also have an Asian American and Pacific Islander Month in May, another occasion that you hear pretty close to nothing about. Why they didn’t break out the Chinese who helped build the western half of our nation for specific remembrance? Or the Japanese who suffered the same discrimination as the Chinese, not to mention being sent to concentration . . . I mean “relocation” camps during WWII, could be questioned.
A few other groups have their own months. The Irish get March for Irish Heritage Month. They share it with the ladies who are celebrating Women’s History Month.
But unless my source, http://www.emotionscards.com/locations.html is faulty, few other groups, who were not exactly welcomed with open arms into our nation, receive recognition. The Chinese, Japanese, Italians, and Polish were all, and some still are, shunned by many in our society. All of these people have made major contributions to making this country what it is.
I know it can be argued that we could get carried away with having a month for every possible nationality that has come here, and I’d agree with that if it weren’t for the preponderance of silly, and even idiotic month-long commemorations we have on the books.
For instance, in January, we have National Oatmeal Month, Be On-Purpose Month, National Gourmet Coffee Month, and Mail Order Gardening Month, to name a few.
February brings us, in addition to Black History, International Expect Success Month, National Hot Breakfast Month, and Return Shopping Carts to the Supermarket Month – whoa! Wouldn’t want to miss that one.
Along with celebrating the Irish in March, we celebrate Peanut Month, Noodle Month, Mirth Month, Spring Month, Umbrella Month, Humorists Are Artists Month, and Play the Recorder Month (kind of like a double-down for the Irish).
You get the idea. If you want to read all the various month celebrations (and I would worry about you if you do) you can find them at the aforementioned website. My point is that if we can find the time to declare a month of celebration for shopping carts and gourmet coffee, we must certainly be able to recognize the masses of people who were either here when we got here, or those who came later and made this arguably the greatest nation in history – that’s all I’m saying.
The good news is that in researching this article, I discovered that my birthday month of September, in addition to being National Hispanic Heritage Month (Sept. 15 – Oct. 15) thanks to President Ronald Reagan (who gets few thanks from me) is also Fall Hat Month, and Subliminal Marketing Month.
Can you imagine the parties I’m going to have this year? I’ll be donning a sombrero, drinking tequila shots, and slipping hidden messages into my conversation telling everyone to send me money.
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